“The whole community is like a dumpsite … ” the political ecology of health in Harare’s informal settlements

Using the Political Ecology of Health framework, this paper examines how socio-political and environmental processes intersect to shape health vulnerabilities and inequities in Hopley and Hatcliffe Extension, Harare's largest informal settlements. Data were collected through four focus group discussions – two in each settlement – with eight participants each (n = 32). Data were thematically analysed using an inductive coding approach to identify patterns and narratives related to health vulnerability, spatial exclusion, and governance failures. The analysis shows that residents' vulnerability to diseases and health risks in Hopley and Hatcliffe Extension is not merely the result of environmental exposure but is embedded in a broader context of colonial logics of exclusion, spatial marginalization, and infrastructural abandonment. The lived experiences of residents – ranging from reliance on contaminated shallow wells, makeshift pit latrines, and toxic urban ecologies to stigmatization in public health facilities – reveal how urban governance failures translate into everyday forms of harm and slow death. The paper makes a case for informal settlement upgrading interventions to build resilient and healthy urban environments.